It was a lot later than I thought it was. Hadn’t the sun only come up a little while ago? It seemed that way, but it had taken me a lot longer at my apartment and driving around than I’d thought. Mid-afternoon approached. Pallo would be waking soon, and I had promised to go back and stay at his place for the night. I got in the truck and headed towards Necro World, flipping on the radio. Caleb had a CD in--Less Than Jake. I sat there in awe for a moment. The guy lived for four hundred years and listened to punk cover bands? I don’t think I could have been more surprised. I switched to the radio. I had no problem with the band. In fact, they were one of my favorites, but I was in the mood for something a little softer. I hit the scan button and concentrated on the road. The stereo ran through the various channels over and over again. It all started to sound the same to me. It faded into background noise as my thoughts drifted to Caleb.
I could still smell the fresh scent of his hair. My legs tightened thinking about the touch of his body. His dark green eyes would forever stick with me. The sound of his voice, so soft compared to Pallo’s and Ken’s. So … coming from the radio?
I slammed on the brakes. Thank goodness no one was behind me. I looked at the radio, half expecting to see Caleb fall out of it. I heard his voice again. He was speaking with someone I didn’t recognize. The other voice was male--deep, and strong. I heard him, but what he said made no sense to me. It was gibberish. It was like listening to a foreign language for the first time. I was lost, but I knew that was Caleb’s voice, I was positive.
The channel changed. I hit the radio to try to retrieve the sound of Caleb. I had forgotten that I was scanning through the channels. I pushed the seek button and heard nothing but music. Had I imagined the whole thing? Had I been so wrapped up in my thoughts of Caleb that I just invented it? I didn’t know. I didn’t know much anymore, except that Pallo was right. I needed to stick close to him until things blew over. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that I had amassed a small procession behind me. I pushed on the accelerator and went to Pallo’s.
Chapter 13
I walked around Pallo’s room and tried to find something to do. The guy didn’t have anything to entertain himself with in here. Looking at the enormous bed, I laughed to myself when I thought about what kind of entertaining the room was set up for--none of which consisted watching a movie. Spying his dressers, curiosity got the best of me and I cracked open a drawer. I yanked it open all the way when I caught a glimpse of its contents. It was full of sex toys of all shapes and colors. My mouth dropped open, and I felt myself blushing.
I really had to get out more.
"See anything you like?" Pallo whispered.
I hadn’t heard him come in--no shocker there. I could have slammed the drawer shut and made up some silly story to cover my butt. I didn’t. I put my hand in and touched something shiny and clear. It was a long glass rod rippled with irregular bumps. I jerked my hand away. I hoped that wasn’t what I though it was.
"You are one sick puppy!" I said.
"Thank you," he said and licked the back of my ear.
I faced him. He was wearing a black, silky pair of pajama bottoms, similar to the ones he wore the night I met him. They were just as low on his hips as the other ones, and I caught myself snatching glimpses of his bare, rippling chest. I forced my gaze back to his face and found him grinning.
His fangs were showing. I backed away. I thought his fangs retracted when he was in a decent, normal mood and was surprised to see them out.
"Why?" It was all I could think of to say.
"I just finished--" He was interrupted when the door to the room opened and a skinny, leggy blonde wrapped in a sheet walked in.
"Pallo, are you coming back to bed?" she asked in a low, sultry voice. Oh, gag me!
I looked her over and caught sight of two holes on her neck. Disgust rolled over me. I couldn’t believe he’d been banging another chic practically under my nose.
Pallo leaned close, letting his face almost touch mine. His breath was cool and smelled like peppermint. "Gwyneth, this is…." He looked over at the blonde, waiting for help with her name.
She looked a little hurt but kept her chin up. "Sandra."
"Ah, yes, of course, Sandra." He stared at me so intently, I began to feel uncomfortable. I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. Was I supposed to run over and hug the girl? Was I supposed to get mad at him for sleeping with someone else?
"Looks like you’ve been keeping yourself busy all day," I said with so much sincerity I almost gagged.
He licked the tip of one fang, turning his attention to Sandra. He held his hand out to her. She walked to him, never once taking her eyes off of him. When she reached him, he took her hand and pulled her close, in a snuggling manner. It was like I wasn’t even in the room anymore. He put his hand up near her face but didn’t touch. She tipped her neck to the side, exposing her smooth tanned skin to me. He leaned over her, his mouth wide, and pressed his fangs into her. She moaned, then started to make noises that one only does during sex.
I wondered if getting sucked on by a vamp who’s not trying to kill you was really that erotic. I shook my head. I didn’t care--I was out of there. Pallo grabbed my shoulder before I could go. He watched me while he fed off her. He was enjoying this. He wanted me to see him doing this to her. He wanted to hurt me, punish me. I had hurt him, and turnabout was fair play.
I pulled free and smiled. If he wanted to suck on some blonde, more power to him. I started towards the door. Sandra screamed, stopping me, and I turned, expecting to see Pallo biting her head off or something. Instead, I saw her naked body pressed to him as he feed from her. She swayed her hips, undulating against him. Pallo’s fingers thrust inside her.
Jealously came upon me in a flash. I remembered Pallo on bended knee. The vision was so clear, so real. I looked back at him pushing his fingers into her, and I wanted to walk over and punch her and kill him. I had no right to feel this way. He had told me that he loved me and I had admitted to loving him, but I had also admitted to loving another. This is what I got in return for that. I crammed down the urge to lash power out at them. I concentrated on being somewhere peaceful, quiet, relaxing. I did this until I felt myself calming down. I turned and walked out of the room, leaving the door stand open.
I walked to the living room, sitting on one of the sofas, leaning my head back. James entered, dressed in unrelieved black. He plopped down on the sofa in front of me. He didn’t try to be all suave and debonair. He just was who he was.
He tipped his head back as well. The two of us sat, staring at the high stone ceiling. I broke the silence first.
"Does he do this often?" I asked.
"No."
"So, what’s the deal?"
James made a small sound like a snort. Did vampires snort? James was definitely breaking down my preconceived notions of what they did and didn’t do. "Gwen, you can’t really be that thick. I mean, sure you’re a looker, but I really thought you had bit a sense in ya."
I kept my head back and concentrated on staying calm. I was shocked to find that I didn’t want to hit him. "Well, how about you help me be a little less thick and just tell me what’s going on."
"I can’t," he said evenly.
"Why not?"
"Because, he made me swear not to," James said. I could hear the shame in his voice. I had the feeling that Pallo was his master, all vampires have one. Having this finally confirmed by the tone of his voice made me sad. I didn’t feel like they should have to answer to anyone. They were older than humans and seemed to demand more respect, but there had always been a way among them. That way would never change. As long as there would be vampires, there would be masters. I wondered who the grand master was, who ran the entire show. Did Pallo have a master too?
"James, tell me about Pallo."
"What do you want to know?" he asked.
"I can tell he’s a good man. How did he get to where he is now?" I was trying to think of a good way to let him
know that I was aware how ruthless one had to be to achieve Pallo’s status.
James sat up. "Gwen, he’s lived a long time."
I sat up too. "Yeah, but he isn’t really that old, and to be where he’s at, he must have been pretty…." The right word escaped me.
"Evil," James said it for me. I could tell by the look on his face that, in Pallo’s case, this was true.
"But he doesn’t seem that way now," I said, propping my elbows on my knees. James came closer. His brown eyes focused on mine, looking so serious. I waited for him to volunteer information, but he didn’t. A look of remembrance came over him and he sat there looking at me, but past me. I touched his knee and felt his power flowing slowly up my arm. The past was the past and James knew that, so he didn’t fear reliving it in his mind. I admired his strength.
It crept over me. I closed my eyes, allowing myself to receive James’ memories. I saw James dressed in a pair of dark brown pants. They tied up the sides of his legs. His shirt had been light brown with puffy sleeves, now it was streaked with blood. He was searching for something, frantically storming around an old village. He walked past several horses that were all lying on their sides, not moving. He bent down next to one and touched it with his hand. His head dropped as if he was in deep thought, and then he sprang to his feet and ran down a dirt path. A modest cabin came into focus. James lightly touched the door, and it opened. He hesitated a moment then walked inside. A table lay on its side. Chairs were smashed to pieces. A fire still burned in the fireplace. Soup spread across the floor from an overturned pot.
He hurried through the house, moving into another room. A small bed was smashed on one end and covered with blood. James pushed through the mess of toppled furniture and saw a boot sticking out from the other side of the bed. He grabbed the bed with one hand and lifted it effortlessly, revealing a corpse. The man’s right arm had been torn from his body, and he had died with horror stamped in his now glossy eyes. James turned and ran out of the tiny cabin, looking in both directions before heading left down a grassy slope toward a small stream. Something was moving there. It was moving with such speed that only James’ vampire eyes could see it.
As James neared the figure, it began to take shape. It was covered in blood from head to toe. Long blood-soaked strands of hair lay against its bare back. James rushed it, knocking it over. It stood and looked at him with eyes of black, hideous, its face twisted and distorted to the point that no trace of humanity existed in it. It snarled and grabbed at his throat with its dagger-like fingernails. James smashed his fist into it and sent it to the ground. He looked down at what the creature had been hovering over. The half-naked remains of a woman’s body were all that was left. The beast had torn the woman’s throat out, exposing her spine. Her arm had been ripped from its socket, making her body look grotesquely distorted.
The bloody body of the creature lying by James’ foot started to stir. It lifted itself slowly off the ground. James made no attempt to keep the beast down. He stood very still, waiting for it to rise. It leaned over the woman’s body and reached down and removed something from her dead hand. It clutched it to its face and its body began to move up and down. It was sobbing--I couldn’t hear anything, but I knew what sobbing looks like. It lifted its hand in the air and gave James what it had been holding. James’ hand slid around the bloody mass and let it drop to the ground. As it fell in what seemed like slow motion, I could make out the tiny animal shapes stitched into it. It was a baby’s quilt. It was smothered in blood.
The creature turned its head to look at James. Pallo’s dark brown eyes stared wildly at James, as if he were lost. He looked down at his bloodied body and collapsed on the ground. James bent and picked him up.
I pulled my hand off of James’ knee slowly, in shock. Pallo had been a murderer. He had been evil, he had been ruthless. Was he still? I didn’t feel like he was, yet I had just shared James’ memory and saw it with my own eyes.
James stood and started to walk out of the room. I reached up to him and took his hand in mine. It was not as cool as Pallo’s always felt to me, but it was not warm either.
"What changed him?" I asked.
James stood very still and thought for a moment before answering me. "Do you want to know what turned him into the monster or what brought him back?"
"Both," I said, sliding my hand around his wrist. His pulse speeded--the memory had gotten to him after all.
"You," he said, and planted a kiss on the top of my head. I felt how much he cared for me. It was the kind that was between close friends, and we hadn’t known each that long or very well.
Giggles came from behind us. James stood up and we both turned to see Sandra and Pallo standing at the end of the sofa’s. She was rubbing her hands all over Pallo’s bare chest. He glared at us.
"What the hell’s your problem?" I shot at him.
James tapped my shoulder, trying to tell me to let it go. I wasn’t sure, and I was too mad at Pallo to care.
"Why would I have a problem?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Sandra looked like a lost puppy. She was standing there, hanging on him like he was her lifeline. It was sickening. At least she was dressed, if you could call it that. She had on a tiny white halter top and short, matching skirt. It was so short that I could see bruises on her inner thighs. Had Pallo done that to her? Was he that rough in bed that he bruised her? She was only a human, so they did tend to bruise easier, but still. She didn’t look too hurt to me. She looked like she wanted him to take her right then and there.
The sight of her made me smile. She looked like a two dollar whore, and I was talking Canadian cash, not American. That made Pallo mad. I think he had hoped that the sight of Sandra would send me into a jealous rampage. It almost had, but I maintained my control. I kept smiling at her and thought I would go for the smart-mouth-of-the-night award.
Hey, I’d been known to win it before, why not now?
"Sandy, we should get together sometime and go shopping. I’ll be hanging out here at Pallo’s for the next couple of days. You should stop by. We could have some girl time. Only if you’re not too busy supplying his next meal. I wouldn’t want to run you ragged before he gets a chance to."
Her eyes lit up. "Does this mean I can come back?" She said it like she was about fifteen. From the looks of her, she was older than me. The phrase being rode hard came to mind. I now knew who it was coined after.
Pallo shot Sandra a nasty look and said no. That made me smile even harder. He didn’t have any feelings for her at all. She had been used as food, and to try to get under my skin. It had almost worked. Almost.
Pallo had James show Sandra out, and came to sit by me. I could feel the anger stirring around him.
"What, are you going to attack me again? Should I be prepared or something?" I know that provoking an already mad vampire probably isn’t the best idea, but what else was new? He clenched his hands. Little drops of blood fell from them. I was on a roll now, why stop? "So what? You want to hit me so bad you have to inflict pain on yourself to avoid it. Oh, please don’t do that on my account, really."
He released an ear piercing yell, rising to his feet. I stood with him. He was going to have to deal with me or kill me, whatever it took. I placed my hand on his chest and pushed him softly.
"So, big guy, are you going to bite me again, or better yet, rip my arm out of its socket and tear my throat out? I don’t have a baby in my arms, so that may take some of the fun out it for you! But hey, there could be one in my belly, and that is what’s got you so pissed off, isn’t it! It’s the fact that you got left with a possibly knocked up whore! Ha, but this whore never did you!" I was on the verge of screaming-okay, maybe I was screaming, just a little. It was taking everything I had to keep control of my volume level.
Pallo’s eyes flashed to black, and he grabbed my wrist. I didn’t try to pull away. I stood on my tiptoes and put my face near his. "Go ahead, kill me. You’ve been dying to do it since the momen
t you laid eyes on me. You acted like you cared so much about me in the beginning. You know, I almost bought the idea that maybe there was more to the story than meets the eye with us. I almost believed you were a nice guy." I touched his chest to push him away. "You took me to Caleb! You took me there and left me. Don’t get pissed off with me for having feelings for him. I met him because of you. This park was more important than me and…." I let my hand slide over his bare chest and touched the tiny scars under his right nipple. "I love you. Him … I love Caleb."
The blackness in his eyes seemed to spill forth brown. He was calming down. He pulled my wrist and wrapped it around his waist, leaving my body pressed to his. He kissed my forehead and held his soft lips there a moment.
"You disgust me! I’m not sorry that any of this has happened. If I am going to be a mother, then you, as my ‘friend’, should be a little bit happier for me. You shouldn’t be pissed off that--"
"That I am not the one who fathered your child."
I stared at him. I had never in a million years expected him to be upset about that. I thought that he was angry about Caleb.
"Pallo?"
"No, Gwyneth, I have loved you since I laid eyes on you, and that has been longer than you know--longer than you can remember. I see that you are young, and have a desire to start out on the path life has in store for you. I saw you and I wanted to be the one that gave you all of your heart’s desires. I wanted to be the one who made you happy. I have not wanted to be normal for a very long time, and you make me crave it."
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